LENCO - GL75 Project

[Wakefield Turntables]

It's been a good read Andy. I will no doubt be implementing some of your mods as and when I finally get around to replinthing my 75. I already have one of Jolyon's excellent bearings and A Norbert idler wheel; just need the weather to pick up so's I can use my workshop[ back garden]

Keith, hope you've managed to get something from all my ramblings. Glad you enjoyed the read so far. I've still a few things up my sleeve!!

Sure plenty folk will

Grant, that's the reason why I started the thread in the 1st place, hopefully people won't make the mistakes I've made and maybe get something out of my experimentation.

Hi Andrew,

congrats to your very nice project !

I've read through all of it with great pleasure and also particularly your pictures
are well made and helpful understanding what you did and why..

Between the lines I sense you had to have a certain patience with the timing of delivering of your bearing.

Could I possibly ask you a favour ?

Could you put him a short note via mail, asking him to get back to his German customer..?

Sorry to bother you with this, but it would help me a lot.

From the quality you seem very pleased with the Jolyon bearing..?
That's good news at least,
I'll enjoy reading your sonic results and thougths, especially in comparison to other decks you have experienced.

Kind regards,,
T

Torsten, thanks again for all your kind comments. My best piece of advice with regards your bearing is to contact the Lenco Heaven web administrators and see if they can help you, I think they will have more influence, additionally you could start a thread on Lenco Heaven detailing your problems, I dont think Jolyon is a bad guy and I know that he's had health issues.

[torstoi]

Thank you Andrew,
I'd absolutely agree with you, he's been pleasant in conversation & I have no reason thinking anything bad as of yet.
It is just for some reason I don't know he's not responding to email.
I'm sorry to hear he has had health issues.
I'm definitely not starting a thread as personally I have a certain aversion against pulling things to public this way,
as I have seen such kind of threads go wrong big time & not sure the harm that is done can ever be repaired.
But I'll give him a week and ask the Lenco Heavens mods then,,,that's a good idea actually.
Thanks a lot, enjoy your deck & have a nice evening !

[Wakefield Turntables]

Tonights Update - The Reference Lenco Pt XXXXIII - Wiring Pt 2 - Or, this thread has had a reprieve Mr. Pierrepoint!

Well for those of you that follow this thread, hello, here we are again! I'm sitting here listening to some Black sabbath through my JR149's whilst sipping a little single malt (sober)! The deck is very nearly finished but I realised that I'd not really give meticulous thought to the wiring, there really isn't much to be honest on a standard '75 but mine's far from standard. I have several area's that I've had to concentrate on. Firstly the power cable for the Nigels speed controller was of a good construction and has been re-cycled elsewhere in my system but I realised that I'd like something better. So, here we are :-

DSCN2959.jpg

A lovely big thick snake of a cable () complete with a ferrite coil scrounged from the garage tool box. Weirdly the voltage into the NSC now seems less erractic using this cable than the old one. This is something I've noticed several times whilst swapping and experimenting with the cables. I usually like ferrite coils at the start and end of all my cables. I've also had to think about my Alphason Tonearm. I bought this 2nd hand from e$cum minus a few bits and pieces and whilst it's performed very well I still feel that I could get more. I've recieved an email tonight from J7 at Audio-origami telling me that arrived at his place and is now having a full overhaul. So, the arm is being re-rewired with IKEDA silver and I've decided to have some silver cartridge tags. The bearing is going to be stripped and cleaned and the arm-cue mechanism repaired. I'm having my tonearm cable din replaced from a 90 degree version to a straight version with 24k gold pins. I also have a umbilical power cord going from the deck to the Nigels Speed Controller which is currently a 4 ft flexible power cable with a cheap male IEC connector. This is to be replaced. I've just ordered 6ft of 1mm silver to make a simple power lead from the deck to the NSC. The length of the cable will be optimised, the cheapo male IEC will be replaced with a silver plated version. I'm VERY disappointed I couldn't find a solid copper version.

I also like to optimise the deck and remove as many parts as possible. So, can you guess which bit of the deck I'm considering dumping next? Clue, it's something to do with the power!!! Yep, the on/off switch with spark supressor cap. I've not done anything yet with this and shall have to see how it sounds through the speakers. Can I live with a POP through the speakers? Who knows, depends how bad it is! I did intend re-wiring the on/off switch in silver but then again why should I bother if it's potentially being dumped. That I think is that for wiring. I'd really like to get to "know" my deck again and this time do some good solid listening sessions and determine it's new sonic signature. I'll still be using the Shure M55E for the time being and then probably switch over to MC's. OK you lot I'm sure you've had enough of me.

Stay tuned and as ever......................

[Wakefield Turntables]

Tonights Update - The Reference Lenco Pt XXXXIV - Some thoughts about a new motor!

The only real motor replacement in my eyes is the Frenk motor replacement. It's a really neat design and supposedly pumps less vibration into the top plate due to the fact that it's DC rather than AC. I think that Frenk still makes these altough a lot of the discussion threads seems quite old and there has been comments about supply of the motor's drying up. I hate things that can't be proven and less motor noise into the top plate being my main bug-bear. How do we know that FrenK's motor dumps less vibration into the top plate than a standard motor? We don't! Cost is approx 200 Euro's, so do I buy one of these motor's or put it onto the "potential purchase" list? The answer is "no" to both options! A number of things worry me about this motor.

1. There is no proof that the motor pumps less vibration into the top plate.
2. It's not a Lenco motor and part of what makes a Lenco sound like a Lenco is it's motor.
3. The battery power supply will eventually fail and need replacing (additional cost).
4. There are some reports that batteries fluctuate power supply and therefore would cause platter speed variations.
5. A purchase of a Frenk motor would make my NSC obselete.

The list could go on. My current configuration works a treat. I have a very clean, continual power supply to the Lenco. I can reduce vibration from the motor by dropping the voltage. I run stacked platters which means that any motor vibration has to travel through two heavy platters which are dampened with dampening rings and a couple of thick mats. Resonance has a hard time with my deck. The top plate is filled with Marine resin which makes the top plate quite staff and adds additional mass. The birch ply plinth is pretty good at mopping up resonance, the whole deck stands on a Bamboo chopping board which adds additional resonance control. The tonearm is mounted on solid aluminium / EVA mount which is then mounted with threaded bolts onto compressed sorbothane, the tonearm itself is solid Titanium. I dont think much vibration is going to get through that lot! So, after a little contemplation my wallet is staying shut and the Frenk motor replacement comes off my list of mods. I've concluded that any improvements the motor could bring to my '75 are not sufficient enough to validate a purchase and that the deck in it's current configuration probably already benefits from any improvements that the Frenk motor could offer.

As ever, stay tune.................

[brian2957]

Mmm... I like your reasoning Andy I think you're correct when you say that the Lenco motor is a part of the '' stock '' turntable SQ . Don't know if you're wallet is safe just yet though as I think there's more to come on the spending front . Trouble is there's no knowing what you will think up next mate

[Wakefield Turntables]

Mmm... I like your reasoning Andy I think you're correct when you say that the Lenco motor is a part of the '' stock '' turntable SQ . Don't know if you're wallet is safe just yet though as I think there's more to come on the spending front . Trouble is there's no knowing what you will think up next mate

I think I've explored pretty much every area that I can with this deck. The tonearm refurb is probably going to be a few bob but then again it always needed doing from the day I bought the Alphason. I think the only thing now for me to play with is new cartridges or step up transformers/head amps for the '75. I've still got a few threads to go over and I may get some new ideas but I can't see me spending anymore series money on the deck now. Time to enjoy the latest around of mods and figure out the sonic signature of the deck.

[brian2957]

Yup , enjoy the fruits of your labour Andy

The new mains cable looks excellent BTW

[Wakefield Turntables]

Yup , enjoy the fruits of your labour Andy

The new mains cable looks excellent BTW

Should be fun trying out some new carts on the '75. Yep, I thought the new mains cable looked pretty neat. I'm just in the process of finishing off the umbilical power cord. The last of the silver arrived today so that's a job for tomorrow.

[helma]

Re the motor, for "upgrade" I'd be inclined to think in terms of attaining several motors, providing careful maintenance on each, centering motor coils etc. and then picking the best example. At ~50 years of age I'm sure they are going to be "individuals" even without accounting for any possible variations in manufacturing.

I have no reason to think a well made DC-motor with good speed controlling wouldn't be a great motor for the Lenco, but somehow I would feel a bit bad having one in mine to be honest. Just seems to go against the ethos of the deck or something.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Re the motor, for "upgrade" I'd be inclined to think in terms of attaining several motors, providing careful maintenance on each, centering motor coils etc. and then picking the best example. At ~50 years of age I'm sure they are going to be "individuals" even without accounting for any possible variations in manufacturing.

I have no reason to think a well made DC-motor with good speed controlling wouldn't be a great motor for the Lenco, but somehow I would feel a bit bad having one in mine to be honest. Just seems to go against the ethos of the deck or something.

I've already done pretty much what you've suggested the motor I've fitted is the best of three that I had sitting around. I may decided to re-visit the motor again and see what other tweaks I can devise.